A thesis submitted to the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy of Central European University in part fulfilment of the
Degree of Master of Science
Green walls for sustainability: Challenges and opportunities for urban infrastructure development
Rituparna MAJUMDAR June, 2018
Budapest
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Erasmus Mundus Masters Course in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management
MESPOM
This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the Master of Science degree awarded as a result of successful completion of the Erasmus Mundus Masters course in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management (MESPOM) jointly operated by the University of the Aegean (Greece), Central European University (Hungary), Lund University (Sweden) and the University of Manchester (United Kingdom).
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Notes on copyright and the ownership of intellectual property rights:
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(2) The ownership of any intellectual property rights which may be described in this thesis is vested in the Central European University, subject to any prior agreement to the contrary, and may not be made available for use by third parties without the written permission of the University, which will prescribe the terms and conditions of any such agreement.
(3) For bibliographic and reference purposes this thesis should be referred to as:
Majumdar, R. 2018. Green walls for sustainability: Challenges and opportunities for urban infrastructure development. Master of Science thesis, Central European University, Budapest.
Further information on the conditions under which disclosures and exploitation may take place is available from the Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University.
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Author’s declaration
No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning.
Rituparna MAJUMDAR
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CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY
ABSTRACT OF THESIS submitted by:
Rituparna Majumdar
for the degree of Master of Science and entitled: Green walls for sustainability: Challenges and opportunities for urban infrastructure development.
Month and Year of submission: June, 2018.
Increasing urbanization spurs a unique set of issues to the human being and their surrounding environment. Urban development attracts more population which creates congested cities with unsustainable land-use strategies. A balanced relation between the urban architecture and the natural environment is the key to sustainable city development (S. M. Sheweka and Mohamed 2012). In the quest of the exact solution, researchers developed the concept of green infrastructure (GI). One of the attractive features of the GI is its multifunctionality which provides benefits in several dimensions including the environmental, social, and economic (European Commission 2012). Among many GIs, green walls (GW) have gained the attention of the city planners and the stakeholders in recent years as a very attractive way of sustainable urban designing. Because of its vertical structure, GWs bring added advantage in congested city greening. Instead of being widely known and appreciated for its benefits, GWs development faces many challenges and remains slow in most of the European countries. This study aims to find out the challenges and potential opportunities for GW development. For a detailed analysis, this research investigates GW development in Geneva, Switzerland as a case study. This allows the research to do an extensive analysis of the GW development and plays as a trade-off game between an in-depth study in a city versus the wider study in the European scale. The findings highlighted the lack of targeted policy and limited knowledge among the citizens as the major challenge and propose policy reforms focusing on GW development.
Keywords: Urbanization, population growth, green infrastructure, green wall, ecosystem services, Geneva, Europe
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Acknowledgements
I express my sincere gratitude for those who have assisted me to pursue this research on Green walls for sustainability: Challenges and opportunities for urban infrastructure development;
without which this project would not have become a reality.
Foremost, I am highly indebted to my supervisor Prof. Laszlo Pinter for his continuous support and invaluable feedback throughout my study. I also appreciate the distinguished expert interviewees who supported my research through their valuable time and expertise.
Next, I am thankful to the facilities provided for students and exceptional professors of the Central European University, University of the Aegean, and the University of Manchester who’ve not just taught me but also helped in developing my intellect and curiosity which enabled me to perform well in MESPOM programme and do justice to my research topic. My appreciation also extends to Eszter and Vera of Center for Academic Writing, CEU for their exemplary skills in assisting me in bringing my research learnings to text and MESPOM program coordinators Gyorgyi, Kriszta, Irina, and Val for their diligence and support during the program period.
Nonetheless, I’m humbled to have had continuous support from friends of MESPOM as well as CEU community; the two-year journey would have been incomplete without their love. Last but not the least, my heartfelt thanks to my husband, parents, sister, and mother-in-law for their constant support and love without which I wouldn’t have felt this happiness and joy in achieving this memorable milestone of my career.
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Dedication
To my husband, Devdatta who has been a constant source of practical and emotional support and encouragement. He walked the long journey with me without which I couldn’t have done
this. And to my mother whose unconditional love supported me in every way.
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Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1.GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AND URBANIZATION: AN OVERVIEW ... 1
1.2.RESEARCH OBJECTIVE ... 6
1.3.RESEARCH QUESTION ... 7
1.4.RESEARCH SCOPE ... 7
1.5.DISPOSITION ... 7
2. LITERATURE REVIEW... 9
2.1.THE CONCEPT OF GREEN WALL... 10
2.2.GREEN WALL AND SUSTAINABILITY ... 15
2.4.SWISS GREEN SPACE AND GREEN WALL DEVELOPMENT ... 22
2.5.CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SWITZERLAND ... 23
2.6.SWISS GREEN SPACE POLICY AND PLANNING ... 27
3. METHODOLOGY... 35
3.1.RESEARCH STRATEGY ... 35
3.2.CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ... 36
3.3.DATA COLLECTION METHODS ... 39
3.4.DATA ANALYSIS ... 42
3.5.LIMITATIONS ... 44
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ... 46
4.1.THE FRAMEWORK ... 51
4.2.CHALLENGES ... 53
4.2.1. Governance, policy, and management ... 53
4.2.2. Economic ... 54
4.2.3. Geographical/environmental... 55
4.2.4. Technical ... 57
4.2.5. Social ... 59
4.3.OPPORTUNITIES ... 60
4.3.1. Governance, policy, and management ... 60
4.3.2. Economic ... 62
4.3.3. Geographical/environmental... 63
4.3.4. Technical ... 63
4.3.5. Social ... 65
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 68
5.1.RECOMMENDATIONS ... 72
5.2.SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ... 74
5.3.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ... 74
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 75
7. APPENDICES ... 83
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7.2.APPENDIX B:INTERVIEW GUIDE ... 85
7.3.APPENDIX C:OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONNAIRE ... 87
7.4.APPENDIX D:KEY GREEN WALL COMPANIES IN SWITZERLAND ... 96
7.5.APPENDIX E:LIST OF POLICY DOCUMENTS ANALYSED... 97
7.6.APPENDIX F:BARRIERS AND ENABLERS FOR GREEN WALL DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA .. 99
7.7.APPENDIX G:GREEN WALL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT BY HEPIA ... 102
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List of Tables
TABLE 1:BENEFITS OF GREEN WALL IN DIFFERENT SUSTAINABILITY DIMENSIONS ... 16
TABLE 2:GREEN WALLS' CONTRIBUTION IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS ... 21
TABLE 3:BARRIERS AND ENABLERS FOR GW DEVELOPMENT ... 27
TABLE 4:RELEVANT MEASURES FOR BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN IN CITIES ... 31
TABLE 5: INTERVIEWEE TYPE WITH DESCRIPTION ... 41
TABLE 6:KEY CHALLENGES FOR GREEN WALL DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA ... 49
TABLE 7:KEY OPPORTUNITIES FOR GREEN WALL DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA ... 50
TABLE 8:KEY DIMENSIONS FOR GREEN WALL DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA ... 52
TABLE 9:INTERVIEWEE OR RESPONDENT CATEGORY AND NUMBER ... 83
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List of Figures
FIGURE 1:GREEN WALL WITH IRRIGATION SYSTEM.IMAGE SOURCE FURBISH AND GREEN WALL
LLC ... 11
FIGURE 2:GOMES LUXURY VERTICAL GARDEN DESIGN.©GOMES-DESIGN ... 12
FIGURE 3:LIVING WALL IN WESTFIELD SHOPPING CENTER.©ANSGLOBAL ... 13
FIGURE 4:TOMATO, LEEK, STRAWBERRY, AND CUCUMBER IN A LIVING WALL. ©URBANPLANTER ... 14
FIGURE 5:FIG E:DIFFERENT TYPES OF VERTICAL VEGETATION SYSTEM.IMAGE SOURCE (LUIS PÉREZ-URRESTARAZU,FERNÁNDEZ-CAÑERO,FRANCO-SALAS, AND EGEA 2015) ... 15
FIGURE 6:BENEFITS OF GREEN WALL.INFOGRAPHIC BY AUTHOR ©2018, TEMPLATE: VENNGAGE ... 17
FIGURE 7:THE EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON HUMAN LIVES.IMAGE SOURCE:THE WORLD BANK 2016 ... 18
FIGURE 8:URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT.IMAGE SOURCED FROM (AKBARI ET AL. N.D.) ... 19
FIGURE 9: VARIATIONS OF SURFACE AND ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE.IMAGE SOURCED FROM (AKBARI ET AL. N.D.)... 19
FIGURE 10:BENEFITS OF GREEN WALLS.IMAGE SOURCE GRETCHENCRAIG 2013 ... 20
FIGURE 11:THE KEY CHALLENGES IN CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SWITZERLAND. ADAPTED FROM IDACLIMATE 2012 ... 24
FIGURE 12:MOST AFFECTED AREAS IN SWITZERLAND DUE TO HEAT STRESS.IMAGE SOURCE: IDACLIMATE 2012 ... 25
FIGURE 13:LEGISLATIVE PROCESS AND IMPLEMENTING ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN SWITZERLAND (FEDERAL OFFICE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT (FOEN)2013) ... 30
FIGURE 14:SWISS BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION PHASES AND PERIODS. IMAGE SOURCE:(FEDERAL OFFICE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 2017) ... 32
FIGURE 15:INFLUENCE OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL POLICIES ON GW DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA ... 33
FIGURE 16:RESEARCH METHODS.IMAGE SOURCE GIVEN 2008. ... 35
FIGURE 17:MULTI-LEVEL FRAMEWORK FOR THE GREEN WALL DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA ... 38
FIGURE 18:DATA ANALYSIS IN NVIVO12 WITH DIFFERENT NODES ... 43
FIGURE 19:INTERVIEWEE CATEGORIES ... 47
FIGURE 20:INTERVIEWEES’ PREFERENCES ON GREEN WALL DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA ... 47
FIGURE 21:TYPES OF INTERVIEWEES AND THEIR PREFERENCES ON GREEN WALL DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA ... 48
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FIGURE 22:MULTI-LEVEL FRAMEWORK FOR GW DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA SHOWING MULTI-
DIMENSIONAL INTERACTIONS ... 51 FIGURE 23:AVERAGE ANNUAL TEMPERATURE IN GENEVA.IMAGE SOURCE WWW.ABOUT.CH . 55 FIGURE 24:AVERAGE ANNUAL PRECIPITATION IN GENEVA.IMAGE SOURCE: WWW.ABOUT.CH 56 FIGURE 25:KEY CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR GW DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA ... 67 FIGURE 26:INTERACTION AMONG THE KEY CHALLENGES IN DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS FOR GW
DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA. ... 69 FIGURE 27:HOW ENABLERS INFLUENCE THE CHALLENGES AND PRODUCE MORE OPPORTUNITIES
FOR GW DEVELOPMENT ... 71 FIGURE 28:STEP-BY-STEP RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GROWTH IN GW DEVELOPMENT IN GENEVA
... 73 FIGURE 29:STRUCTURAL LAYS OF GREEN WALL MADE BY HEPIA AND SKYFLOR.IMAGE
SOURCE:HEPIA ... 102 FIGURE 30:TOP AND FRONT VIEW OF THE CERAMIC STRUCTURE MADE BY HEPIA.IMAGE
SOURCE:AUTHOR ... 103 FIGURE 31:STRUCTURAL DETAILS OF THE GREEN WALL DEVELOPED BY HEPIA ... 103 FIGURE 32:PLANT GROWTH IN CERAMIC STRUCTURE MADE BY HEPIA.IMAGE SOURCE:HEPIA
... 104
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List of Abbreviations
UN: United Nations
EEA: European Environment Agency JRC: Joint Research Centre
OECD: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development GI: Green Infrastructure
GW: Green Wall
ES: Ecosystem Service
UNOG: United Nations Office in Geneva FOEN: Federal Office for the Environment
SEVE: Greenspace Services (Service des Espaces Verts) VVS: Vertical Vegetation System
VGS: Vertical Greening System UK-GBC: UK Green Building Council ALW: Active Living Wall
SD: Sustainable Development
WCED: World Council on Environment and Development PM: Particulate Matter
PM1: Particulate Matter with diameter less than 1 micron PM10: Particulate Matter with diameter less than 10 micron UHI: Urban Heat Island
SDG: Sustainable Development Goals
HEPIA: High School of Landscape, Engineering and Architecture of Geneva (Haute École du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève)
IDA: International Development Association CHF: Confoederatio Helvetica Franc (Swiss Franc) IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
ETHZ: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich)
ARE: Federal Office for Spatial Development
UAC: Unit for Community Action (Unité d’Action Communautaire) EPA: Environmental Protection Act
SBS: Swiss Biodiversity Strategy OAPC: Air pollution Control Ordinance NAO: Noise Abatement Ordinance SPA: Spatial Planning Act
EU: European Union
CEU: Central European University GDP: Gross Domestic Product
NGO: Non-Governmental Organization USD: United States Dollar
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1. Introduction
1.1. Green infrastructure and urbanization: an overview
Worldwide, urbanization is an inevitable process because of technological advances and increasing population. Since 2007 more than half of the world population lives in urban areas, and nearly 70% of the total world population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050 (United Nations 2013). This figure will probably increase as we proceed further into the future. As a result, urban areas are constantly evolving due to population growth and socioeconomic changes (Taylor n.d.). This creates a major impact on the environment with increasing grey structures and decreasing green space (Haaland and van den Bosch 2015).
Besides climate change, one of the greatest problems is this urban densification that results in the reduction of green spaces within cities (Jim 2004). Where urban sprawl is the flip side of the urban densification, researchers have argued that urban sprawl poses many threats to cities and their environment for its unsustainable land-use strategies (Allah Yar n.d.; Wilson and Chakraborty 2013; EEA and JRC 2006). Urban densification also brings the concept of compact city approach which has gained global attention in the last few years as a solution to urban sprawl (Haaland and van den Bosch 2015). The compact city concept has the potential to produce solution to urban densification with its sustainable land-use component (Kotharkar, Bahadure, and Vyas 2012). A compact city facilitates “sustainable transportation” with lesser travel distance, “sustainable social cohesion” with developed social culture, and “sustainable economic viability” with dense and proximate development pattern (Kotharkar, Bahadure, and Vyas 2012; OECD 2012). As urban growth is increasing there is increasing need for sustainable city development and sustainable land-use strategies which can be achieved by the compact city approach. However, the implementation of the compact city concept suffers from major challenges while provisioning green space (Haaland and van den Bosch 2015). Urban green
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space planning and management is one of the important issue in city development as it provides essential benefits to the citizens and the local environment (Anguluri and Narayanan 2017;
Rasidi, Jamirsah, and Said 2012). Proper planning for green space incorporation is hence a necessity in urban sustainability.
Grafius (2018) proposed that the relationship between urban green space ecosystem services and urban form can be used in sustainable urban planning and designing practices (Grafius, Corstanje, and Harris 2018). Jenks and Jones (2010) argued that urban sustainability and urban forms are linked and proper urban forms are a tool to achieve sustainability (Jenks and Jones 2010); whereas Dempsey defined urban form as the physical characteristics of a city which includes the building patterns, facades, urban block layout, and distribution of green space (Dempsey et al. 2010). The urban forms are important features of urban areas and contributes to urban sustainability and human behaviour (Dempsey et al. 2010). Designing cities or urban areas hence is a very attractive and potential adaptive measure to tackle the urban densification and shortage of green space.
Increasing city green space within city greys’ is one of the most effective and adaptive way to create a sustainable and resilient city as urban green spaces provide essential benefits to citizens and their surrounding environment (Haaland and van den Bosch 2015; Tzoulas et al. 2007).
Urban green space also offer habitat for many species which increases biodiversity (Goddard, Dougill, and Benton 2009), contribute to air purification and temperature control (Bell, Morgenstern, and Harrington 2011; Bowler et al. 2010), regulate storm water (Zhang et al.
2012), provide carbon storage (Davies et al. 2011), increase aesthetic value, human-nature interaction, and social interaction (Pauleit 2003). The ecosystem services provided by urban green space is therefore countless and are crucial to achieve sustainability (Haaland and van den Bosch 2015). One of the sustainable ways to introduce urban green spaces in cities is the
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application of the green infrastructures (GI) within the grey urban areas (Dhakal and Chevalier 2017).
Green infrastructure as defined by the European Union is “a strategically planned network of high quality natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features, which is designed and managed to deliver a wide range of eco-system services and protect biodiversity in rural and urban settings” (European Commission 2013a). GI provides a wide variety of benefits to human beings. Multifaceted benefits of GI include protection of vegetation and soil, restoration of hydro-ecological processes, and increasing biodiversity (James et al. 2009;
Pauleit 2003; Tzoulas et al. 2007). GI also has a potential for reducing the heat-island effect, surface water run-off, and climate change adaptation with numerous sustainability benefits (Dhakal and Chevalier 2017; Pauleit 2003).
Despite of these widely known and accepted benefits, however GI implementation remains slow (James et al. 2009; Kasanko et al. 2006). Instead, grey infrastructure is predominant in most cities all over the world (Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu et al. 2015). Hence, there remains a major gap between the knowledge about the benefits of GI and its implementation in cities.
One of the very attractive GI is green walls (GW) or vertical vegetation, or vertical gardens.
GW is a structure where walls of urban grey structures are covered with vegetation (Luis Pérez- Urrestarazu et al. 2015). It could be applied both on the external and internal walls of buildings depending on the type of green wall. GW has been believed to has its origin in 1930s when Stanley Hart White, a landscape architect at the University of Illinois introduced the idea of GWs (Hindle 2012). By now many researchers reported GW benefits on urban high-rise buildings (Gabriel Perez, Lidia Rincon, Anna Vila, Josep M. Gonzalez 2011; Jim and He 2011;
Othman and Sahidin 2016; Davis et al. 2017). Başdoğan and Çiğ (2016) argued that green walls
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help provide a balanced urban ecology and enhance urban quality of life in addition to the creation of new job opportunities (Başdoğan and Çiğ 2016). GW also has the potential for microclimate control, temperature reduction (Elgizawy 2016), and noise reduction (Azkorra et al. 2015). GW provides a wider range of ecosystem services (ES) as described above with the added benefits of energy conservation to the buildings and an opportunity of direct interaction between humans and nature (S. Sheweka, Magdy, and Magdy 2011). In addition to all these benefits, green walls also have significant effect on stress reduction and positive psychological impact on people (Bringslimark, Hartig, and Patil 2009). With all the high-rise buildings in most of the urban areas, green walls could cover a larger surface area than any other forms of green space with probable potential of increased benefits (Haaland and van den Bosch 2015).
GW application in cities are influenced by different national and regional policies (Irga et al.
2017; European Commission 2013a, 2013b). These policies which are mainly focused on green infrastructure development and increasing city green space, play a crucial role in forming the barriers and the probable drivers for GW application (Andreucci 2013). This research aims to study the knowledge gap in green wall development from policy and socio-cultural perspective and to identify the challenges and opportunities related green wall application in cities.
Cities could have very different development trajectories and land use patterns, and this is true for European cities (James et al. 2009). European cities are among the most suffered cities in the world in respect to loss of green space, habitat fragmentation, and ecosystem health (Andreucci 2013). The problem is more significant in Southern European cities than in Northern European cities (Kabisch et al. 2016). Highly densified urban fabric and lack of conventional greens (city parks and public gardens) are among the many factors which are responsible for the loss of green spaces in cities (Virtudes and Manso 2016). The problem also remains in the quantity versus the quality issue where the shortage of private green spaces barely offsets the benefits of increasing public green spaces (Haaland and van den Bosch 2015)
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which creates urban green space and environmental inequalities (Wüstemann, Kalisch, and Kolbe 2017). Hence, designing urban areas and addressing the loss of green space is one of the major challenges in European cities (Haaland and van den Bosch 2015). Therefore, innovative strategies to introduce green space in cities is very important for sustainable city development.
In regard to this, application of green walls is one among the many steps towards urban sustainability.
As mentioned above, European cities have different land-use patterns and development strategies which creates different political and sociological perspective for green space and hence green wall development. Studying the green wall application in Europe is therefore a challenge and might not be the best choice as this will provide a wider sense of the barriers and enablers but will lack the in-depth understanding. Instead, researching on green wall implementation in one city will provide the opportunity for an in-depth analysis of the existing issues and possibilities.
Among the many major European cities, Geneva is leading in terms of its political and economic importance. Geneva hosts nearly twenty international organizations including the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG) and the International Red Cross Committee (Ville de Genève n.d.). It also has more than a hundred international banks and the world’s leading watch producing companies and possesses a strong “network of intellectual and economic”
relation with the rest of the Europe and other continents (Maurice Cranston 2018). Given its political and economic stature, Geneva is an ideal place for a sustainable city movement. The Federal government of Switzerland and the city administration of Geneva are committed to sustainable development by protecting the green spaces in the city and in surrounding rural areas (Federal Office for the Environment 2013; Federal Office for the Environment 2017;
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République et canton de Genève 2013). This makes Geneva an ideal city to study green wall development.
Geneva is the second largest city in Switzerland and is one of the greenest cities in Europe with more than 20% of the land area covered by green space (Service des espaces verts n.d.). Ville de Genève is the municipal administration of the city which acts through the department named as the greenspace services (service des espaces verts (SEVE)) for green space creation and maintenance within Geneva. SEVE works under the auspices of the department of urban environment and security (département de l'environnement urbain et de la sécurité), City of Geneva (Ville de Genève) (Service des espaces verts n.d.). The political and economic importance of the city enables opportunity for green wall development and ensures sustainable market for stakeholders and financiers. Despite its potential, Geneva lags far behind its European counterparts in GW development. Hence, there is a strong need to analyse the causes for lack of green wall development in Geneva. This research aims to study these causes while focusing on the policies underpinning green space development and discovering how these policies affect green wall development. This study also intends to find out the potential enablers and suggests recommendations for green wall cultivation.
1.2. Research objective
To study and understand how the policy and governance enables or hinders urban sustainability through the development of green walls, with specific attention to the city of Geneva. To investigate the challenges and opportunities for green wall development in cities, in order to find the gaps in urban greening policies and subsequently recommend potential possibilities to enhance vertical greening focusing on the city of Geneva.
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1.3. Research question
• What is the role of national and local policies in enabling or hindering GW development in European cities, with emphasis on Geneva, Switzerland?
• What is the status of GW development in the city?
• How could urban policy contribute to advancing the development of GWs to a new level?
1.4. Research scope
This work is concerned with the application of green wall in European cities. The possibilities vary widely among different cities based on their political, geographical, and financial conditions. While it is interesting to find out the challenges and opportunities for green wall application in the European scale, this study only focuses on Geneva, Switzerland. As discussed before choosing Geneva as a case study for this research plays a trade-off game between the wider European perspective and the in-depth analysis. Geneva has been chosen because it has huge potential of green wall development considering its attractive political and financial market. Despite these huge possibilities the city has very few numbers of green walls. The motivation behind this study is to find out the gap between the knowledge and practice. The research aims to provide clarity on political impacts of green wall application in cities, especially in Swiss context. The research and its conclusion are addressed towards a wide- ranging audience from academia to urban planning and decision makers and other readers interested in urban development discourse.
1.5. Disposition
This thesis is organised into 3 chapters along with Introduction and Conclusion and Recommendation. Chapter I or the Literature Review chapter provides the state of the art with
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explanations of the concept of green walls and their relation to sustainability. Literature Review chapter also provides the details of the Swiss green space development and the policy and regulatory instrument related to it. Chapter II is the Methodology chapter which describes the methods adopted for the research and data collection. Chapter III is the Results and Discussion chapter which gives the detailed description of the challenges and opportunities and answers the research questions. This thesis ends with Conclusions and Recommendations including possible policy pathways and future research.
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2. Literature review
This chapter details the state of the art of green wall development incorporating the newest ideas and features. The chapter starts with detailing the concept of green wall and its contribution to sustainability and how green wall has been developed and grown in swiss market. The chapter also gives the details of the swiss green space policies and how it could lead to sustainable development in the country.
The literature review was a part of the methodology which was adapted to answer the research question for this study. Literature search generated only few articles (three) which specified the green space governance and development in Geneva (Nikolaidou et al. 2016; Tappert, Klöti, and Drilling 2018; Brenneisen 2006) but these articles do not specify on green wall application in Swiss cities. It could be concluded that there is a major gap of knowledge in the literature- both academic and grey on swiss green wall development which makes this study very significant to the decision-makers, researchers, as well as to the stakeholders of the Swiss green wall market.
Literature survey also includes researching on the national and local policy documents. Because of the gap in research articles about swiss green walls, this research was very dependent on the national and regional policy documents. After reviewing many national and regional policy documents (14), 9 of them were found to be the most relevant for the current study. The list of these documents could be found in appendix E. As reviewing the research articles about Switzerland did not provide profuse information about Geneva the search was expanded from only Geneva to the whole Switzerland which gave a broader image and helped to identify important themes and ideas which shaped the interview questions and protocols, the crucial part of the research methodology.
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Before giving the details of the swiss green space policies and how it effects and shapes the sustainability agenda, it is pertinent to explain the benefits of green wall and its connection to sustainability. This will provide an insight on green walls and their potential benefits on human life and will help to understand the probable enablers and barriers for green wall development in Geneva.
2.1. The concept of green wall
Green wall or vertical vegetation system (VVS) or vertical greening system (VGS), or sometimes called as bio-wall is spreading of vegetation or plants on the building exterior or interior wall. These structures can or cannot be attached mechanically to the building walls depending on the construction and type of green wall (Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu et al. 2015).
Green walls have different typologies depending on the structural complexity, design, vegetation type, and support structure. The major divisions are of two types: green façades and living walls. Green facades are the structures where plants which are rooted to ground climbs or cascades on building walls. The rooting system could be some plant boxes or some intermediate planters. Green facades are the simplest structured green walls. The plants used are of less biologically diversified and need very low maintenance and protection. The living wall system, on the other hand is comparatively complex and needs extensive maintenance.
The design is based on some supporting structures and different attachment methods. Usually the structure is based on cloth (or felt) or panel (or box). The growing medium remains inside the pocket on the cloth or panel and could be made of organic or inorganic materials with added mineral nutrients. A mandatory irrigation system with optional fertigation, monitoring, and lighting system is necessary for living walls to sustain. The system also need a waterproof backing to save the building walls from the dampness of the wet plants and growing medium.
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The irrigation system in the green walls are the most crucial part of the overall design. Green walls cannot sustain without a proper irrigation system. Usually irrigation systems are of two types namely, direct irrigation and recycled irrigation (Ambius 2018). In the indirect irrigation system, plants are connected to a direct water source. The water goes through the walls and the remaining water usually goes to the drainage system. In recycled irrigation system, the plants are connected with a recycled water system. The water flows through the plants and is collected at the bottom and then pumped again to keep the plants moist.
Another type of new living wall design is the hydroponic system where the plant doesn’t grow on soil, instead it uses water and added nutrients for growth.
Figure 1: Green wall with irrigation system. Image source Furbish and Green Wall LLC
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The plant types in living wall systems could be of wide varieties. This depends on the climatic condition of the place, micro-climate, sun exposure, wall architecture, and irrigation and cultivation system. Some of the living walls have epiphytic plants while some have lithophytes.
Epiphytes are a type of plant which grows on another plant or any supporting structure. They
Figure 2: Gomes luxury vertical garden design. © Gomes-Design
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depend on the air, rain or any other water source, and organic debris for nutrition (Melissa Petruzzello n.d.). Whereas lithophytes are a type of plant which grows on rocks or stones and derive their necessary nutrients from atmosphere, rain, or nearby dead plants. Epiphytes are very common for the living walls to have. The HortPark of Singapore is one such example with a living wall with epiphytic plants including vines (Rhaphidophora tetrasperma and Monstera deliciosa), orchid (Vanilla planifolia and Vanda Miss joaquim), creepers (Hoya carnosa compacta, Hoya obovata, Rhaphidophora korthalsii), ferns (Nephrolepis spp, Adiantum spp, Polypodium), and cactus (Epiphylum oxypetalum) (Elmich Pte Ltd 2015).
The plant selection also is dependent on the desired outcomes of the green wall projects and thus could be very tricky sometimes (Growing green guide n.d.). Some plants have greater aesthetic values for landscape designing, some have high drought tolerance, some have air and water purification potential, where some have high biodiversity value. The Westfield shopping center in West London has a living wall which was developed to illustrate the potential of a living wall in increasing the biodiversity in a small limited space within the city greys (UK- GBC biodiversity task group 2009).
Figure 3: Living wall in Westfield shopping center. ©ANS Global
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One of the many experiments to living walls is to build them with ornamental and edible plants.
Weinsmaster (2009) reported successful experiments of planting edible herbs (strawberry, thyme, lettuce) to create green walls (Weinmaster 2009). Some places in Australia also have reported to have Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa), spinach (Spinacia oleracea), lettuce (Lettuce sativa), chili (Apsicum spp), and many more edible plants (Wall Garden n.d.).
Indoor living walls are very similar to the outdoor ones excluding that the plant species are different as their exposure to the sun and wind will be very limited for most of the cases.
Excluding these two major classes, some researchers have worked on some intermediate green walls and named them as green screens (pre-grown on steel framework), live curtains (planted in planter box with hydroponic system), and urban hedges (interchangeable between green façade and living wall because of their features and ecosystem services) (Staffordshire University n.d.).
Figure 4: Tomato, leek, strawberry, and cucumber in a living wall.
©URBANplanter
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The final type of green wall is the “active living wall” (ALW), which acts as an active biofilter.
An air current is forced through the wall and collected afterwards. This produces a clean, fresh, and cooled air (L. Pérez-Urrestarazu et al. 2016; Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu et al. 2015).
Figure 5: Fig E: Different types of vertical vegetation system. Image source (Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu, Fernández-Cañero, Franco-Salas, and Egea 2015)
2.2. Green wall and sustainability
Sustainable development (SD) is the term which was developed with the belief that human and nature can coexist in harmony. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987) defined SD as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Sustainability is the conception which grew out of SD with the realization that the environmental crisis caused by anthropogenic
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wellbeing. The only solution remains within the prospering nature. In an urban context, high economic and social development creates a huge barrier for nature to flourish. The land use pattern and patches of isolated green spaces create a huge pressure on the natural ecosystem (Ranjha n.d.; Hodgson et al. 2009; Grimm et al. 2008). Increasing green spaces within the cities to improve its landscape pattern makes the city resilient and sustainable to adapt and mitigate the inevitable effect of climate change (Adhya, Plowright, and Stevens 2010; Adams 2006).
Sustainability is concerned with maintaining the delicate balance between environmental protection and urbanism (Rosenzweig 2003). And, green wall is one among the many creative approaches for maintaining the balance with its sustainable designing features. It offers benefits in all the three dimensions of urban sustainability as described in table
Table 1: Benefits of green wall in different sustainability dimensions
Social Dimension Social interaction, aesthetics, human-nature interaction, education, health effects, and job creation (S. Sheweka, Magdy, and Magdy 2011)
Environmental Dimension Nature conservation, increasing biodiversity, air purification, humidification, air cooling, reduction of urban-heat-island effect, carbon sequestration, and noise reduction (Elgizawy 2016)
Economic Dimension Rain water management, energy savings, increasing property value, food production, and tourism (Dhakal and Chevalier 2017;
European Commission 2013b, 2013a).
Reconciliation ecology is the science of creating and maintaining habitats and species diversity in places where people live and work (Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu et al. 2015). The aim is to modify the urban areas where people live and dwell to support greater range of species habitats (S.
Sheweka, Magdy, and Magdy 2011). Green walls are a good example of reconciliation ecology as it creates plant and animal diversity within close proximity to human habitats. This also
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provides the opportunity for a human-nature interaction which has been proved to have a positive effect on human physical and mental health (Weerakkody et al. 2017).
Figure 6: Benefits of green wall. Infographic by author ©2018, template: Venngage
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Green walls also have considerable potential for particulate matter (PM) absorption from the atmosphere. Weerakkody (2017) showed that a collection of different species of plants in a green wall can act as an atmospheric PM filter by absorbing many particulate matters starting from PM1 to PM10 (Othman and Sahidin 2016; Jaafar et al. 2013).
Another positive impact of having green wall is air temperature regulation. Green walls have reported to reduce building air temperature in hot summer in tropical climate (Jaenicke et al.
2015) as well as in temperate climate (Rakhshandehroo et al. 2016; Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu et al. 2015; S. M. Sheweka and Mohamed 2012). It also reduces urban-heat-island (UHI) effects significantly (Yeh n.d.; Dalit Bielaz Sclar 2013). The shading from the leaves and the evapotranspiration from the plants help in controlling the UHI effect (Mohajerani, Bakaric, and Jeffrey-Bailey 2017; S. M. Sheweka and Mohamed 2012).
Urban heat island (UHI) effect is a global issue which threatens the habitability of the urban areas. It is the phenomenon by which the temperature of any urban region remains higher in comparison to the country side that directly surrounds the urban area (Santamouris 2013). The
Figure 7: The effects of air pollution on human lives. Image source: The World Bank 2016
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temperature difference between the urban and surrounding area has been reported to be 5-15 ̊C (Stone, Hess, and Frumkin 2010). This temperature difference is the result of the urbanism which caused deforestation, less greeneries, reduction in evapotranspiration, low albedo, and anthropogenic heat generation (Yamamoto 2006).
Figure 9: variations of surface and atmospheric temperature. Image sourced from (Akbari et al. n.d.)
Figure 8: Urban heat island effect. Image sourced from (Akbari et al. n.d.)
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Figure 10: Benefits of green walls. Image source Gretchencraig 2013
Green walls also contribute in building energy savings. The energy saving potential has mostly been studied in hot climates, where it has shown to reduce the electricity bills significantly.
Researchers have studied and modeled the potential of green walls in energy savings and found it to be very effective (Perez et al. 2014; Grabowiecki et al. 2017; Gabriel Perez, Lidia Rincon, Anna Vila, Josep M. Gonzalez 2011; Wong et al. 2009).
Green walls can also be used as an innovative method for urban farming and can be used to reduce the pressure on conventional rural farming (Santo, Palmer, and Kim 2016; Marc Hernandez and Rosemary Manu 2018). United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the importance of agriculture and sustainable city in SDG target 11.3 and researchers have argued that integrating urban farming in growing cities is one of the way to achieve the target (Marc Hernandez and Rosemary Manu 2018). Urban farming through green
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walls also helps in access to food (SDG 10), food system resilience in case of need (SDG 11.6, 13.2) with increasing city green space and improved air quality (SDG 11.6, 11.7). Development of green walls also contribute to achieve other SDGs and their targets. A detailed list has been given in table 2.
Table 2: Green walls' contribution in Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 3: Healthy lives and promote wellbeing Green walls reduce air pollution and improve air quality. It also helps to control the microclimate and the humidity which supports healthier and productive lives.
SDG 8: Productive environment and decent work
Green walls create new jobs and help in economic growth. The life cycle of a green wall from conceptualization to decommissioning needs expertise from a wide variety of people and provide opportunities for an inclusive employment.
SDG 9: Resilient infrastructure and innovation
Green wall promotes resilient and innovative infrastructure development with its sustainable features.
SDG 11: Resilient and sustainable cities Single green walls can have a small effect on city resilience but when applied in larger scale it helps in making cities resilient and sustainable.
SDG 13: Climate action Green walls do not have a major impact on climate change resilience because of the scale. But it can contribute in removing CO2
and other pollutants from air which is the key factor for global warming.
SDG 15: Life on earth Green walls promote biodiversity in local scale.
Green walls have been identified as an intrinsic nature-based solution (NBS) to improve the biodiversity at local and regional level and is already in practice in many European cities (Enzi et al. 2017). Large green walls have the potential to significantly contribute in city resilience and wellbeing of the citizens. A living wall of 850m2 in Vienna, Austria has reported to produce cooling effects on building equal to 80 air conditioning units with 3000 watts and 8 hours operating period (712 kWh) with O2 production for 40 people per day (Scharf, Pitha, and Oberarzbacher 2012; Enzi et al. 2017).
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2.4. Swiss green space and green wall development
Switzerland has huge potential for green wall development and expansion. The country has only 30% of its land area as human livable space (European Climate Adaptation Platform 2015). Most of the land is covered with high mountains, forests, and rivers. With this small area to provide adequate space for all the needs including housing, office, industry, transportation, leisure, and agriculture, the pressure on nature is very high. The National government is well aware of the situation and is very active on keeping the cities green. Most of the swiss cities have very high proportion of green spaces compared to most of the other European cities. But, as the cities are growing in terms of population and infrastructures, there is increasing need for more greeneries. Green wall is one among the very attractive green space choices for congested cities as it doesn’t need any land coverage. Swiss cities have large parks, gardens, private gardens, vegetable farms, and many other green space types but are lagging far behind in green wall development from the other countries in Europe. The country has few green walls (200+), most of which are indoor ones. Some cities in Switzerland like Zurich are more developed in green walls than other Swiss cities. Most of the green wall companies are based in Zurich which might be the reason of the city having more green walls than others. Some Swiss cities are like Basel doesn’t have plenty of green walls but has the largest area of green roofs per capita in the world (Hydroplant 2018).
The concept of green wall started developing in Switzerland in the beginning of 1970s (Bartschi et al. 2012). The technology used to build green wall at the beginning was very poor and didn’t survive for long. From 1970s to 2018, the country went through significant growth in the technology and had attracted attention of many green wall investors and experts. Since then the Swiss green wall market is growing very slowly. Currently, Switzerland has few green wall manufacturing companies (Appendix D) who are continuously investing in developing new
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user friendly, easy to handle, and long-lasting technologies to create a more attractive green wall market in the country. One of the many recent design strategies is the green wall with easy plant replacement system. This technology has been invented by Gomes-Design, one of the leading green wall manufacturing companies in Switzerland. They claim this design to be a
“consumer product” where the maintenance doesn’t need any expertise and is easy to regulate (Gomes-Design 2018).
Excluding these privately-owned companies, green wall development has recently gained attention from many academic researchers. High School of Landscape, Engineering and Architecture of Geneva (Haute École du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève or HEPIA) is a leading architecture institute in Geneva. Few researchers from HEPIA along with a green wall manufacturing company, Skyflor developed a green wall in 2013 in the city as an experimental study. The project was funded from the public fund granted by the government to study the potential of green walls as a passive acoustic insulation system. The study resulted in a successful application of green wall in the city of Geneva. The detail of the study can be found in Appendix G. With all these development and introduction of new and innovative technologies, the Swiss market for green wall is expected to grow in near future.
2.5. Climate change and sustainable development in Switzerland
Switzerland is one among the many countries in the world which is suffering significantly in biodiversity and species conservation due to its fragile ecosystem and extensive land-use strategies for agriculture and infrastructure development (Swiss Spatial Planning Association
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2012). Figure 11 illustrates the key challenges for climate change adaptation in Switzerland in different sectors.
Figure 11: The key challenges in climate change adaptation in Switzerland. Adapted from IDA Climate 2012
Among the challenges stated above, the greater heat stress in agglomeration and cities, increasing levels of summer drought, greater risk of flooding, rising snowline, impaired water and air quality, change in habitats, species composition and landscapes can be directly linked to urban green space development and can be solved with the application of more green spaces in the cities. Most of the green wall installation in cities are in small scale and has low direct impact on climate change adaptation and city resilience. On the other hand, GWs have significant effect on the UHI, air quality, rain water management, and habitat creation in local level (Xing, Jones, and Donnison 2017) and hence is very important to consider as a potential urban green space in sustainable city development.
Adaptation sectors
Challenges posed by effects of climate change
Water management Natural hazards management Agriculture Forestry Energy Tourism Biodiversity Management Health Spatial development
Greater heat stress in agglomerations and cities 1 1 1
Increasing levels of summer drought 1 1 1 1 1 1
Greater risk of flooding 1 1 1 1 1 1
Decreasing slope stability and more frequent mass wasting 1 1 1 1 1 1
Rising snowline 1 1 1 1 1
Impaired water, soil and air quality 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Change in habitats, species composition and landscapes 1 1 1 1 1
Spread of harmful organisms, disease and alien species 1 1 1 1 1
Monitoring and early detection 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Uncertainties and knowledge gaps 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Raising awareness, information and coordination 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Resouce requirements and funding 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
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As the average temperature in the cities are increasing due the effects of climate change and global warming, the heat stress and heatwaves are like to become longer, frequent, and intensive (Interdepartmental Committee on Climate (IDA Climate) 2012). Geneva is among the many cities in Switzerland where the heatwaves are having most affects. Figure 12 shows the most affected areas in Switzerland due to heat stress.
Figure 12: Most affected areas in Switzerland due to heat stress. Image source: IDA Climate 2012
According to the IDA Climate report (2012), the heat stress can be broken by the effective construction of the ecological infrastructure where urban greens can create open spaces for good air circulation, contribute in cooling through evapotranspiration and evaporation which also helps to reduce the health risks. Changing climate also effecting the precipitation pattern causing frequent summer drought which is predicted to be longer in future. The change in precipitation pattern also is expected to cause frequent winter flooding in whole of Switzerland.
GWs do not directly reduce the flood risk, but it can reduce the flow of rain water to the ground and help in storm water management. The city of London has recently developed a green wall designed by Gary Grant from the Green Infrastructure Consultancy. The wall is 21m high with 10,000 plants and is expected to reduce surface water flooding with its rain water harvesting system (Andrews 2013).
Heat stress is also creating pressure on the fresh water resources of the country. Most of part of
Geneva
Greater heat stress in agglomerations and cities in Switzerland
Regions affected: Agglomeration and cities
Sectors affected: Spatial development, health, and energy
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Geneva is mostly dependent on the Lake Geneva. Increasing temperature is causing quick evaporation from the inland water streams, lake, and other water sources. This increases the concentration of the pollutants present in the water. This water again when infiltrates and reaches the ground water, contaminates the main water source of the country. The high amount of precipitation in winter is also resulting in higher soil erosion which removes the top soil that enhances the nutrient leaching in inland and ground water (Interdepartmental Committee on Climate (IDA Climate) 2012). Overall, the increasing heat stress is severely degrading the environmental condition of the country making it more vulnerable to climate change effects.
The possible causes for the air quality impairment are the probable increase in high pressure areas (Interdepartmental Committee on Climate (IDA Climate) 2012) and increase in motor vehicles on the roads.
The biodiversity, habitat change or fragmentation, and the change in species composition are the most affected sectors in Switzerland due to climate change and global warming. The distribution of animals and plants in their natural habitats varies depending on the climatic condition of a place. Once the climate change has significant effect it can drastically reduce the number of species in the country. The IDA Climate (2012) has projected decline in the local plant species, loss of habitats, and change in species composition (Interdepartmental Committee on Climate (IDA Climate) 2012). This will have significant negative effects on the ecosystem services provided by different species. GW production in larger scale is a potential solution to these effects as GW can save some species locally and can help to restore the value of ecosystem services they provide (Collins, Schaafsma, and Hudson 2017).
The pressure produces from the climate change acts as a driver for Switzerland which leads the country towards sustainable development. The country earns every second franc (Swiss
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currency CHF) abroad and manages nearly one-third of global wealth. The country also consumes natural resources to a scale of about thrice it produces nationally. All these creates a strong interdependence between Switzerland and the rest of the world which makes the sustainable development as a “commensurate responsibility” (Bartschi et al. 2012) and the country is expected to respond more in coming days. Climate change and SD shares a “dual relationship” (IPCC 2007) where SD works hand-in-hand with climate policies resulting in a better socio-economic development. Climate policies focusing on increasing green infrastructures (including green walls) is thus one among many approaches to achieve urban sustainability (European Commission 2013a). Hence, green wall introduction in larger scale could be one of the foremost agendas for Switzerland to contribute in SD. However, GW development in Geneva faces considerable challenges while implementation. Table 3 highlights key barriers and enablers for GW development in cities.
Table 3: Barriers and enablers for GW development
Barriers Economic Perception of higher cost
Social Confronting developers, Skepticism about long-term performance
Governance, policy, and management
Confronting municipalities, resistance within regulatory committee
Technical Design challenges, perception of unknown performance
Environmental Weather and climatic conditions Enablers Economic Public-private budget
Social Education, awareness
Governance, policy, and management
Law, regulatory instruments Technical Advanced engineering skills Environmental Ecosystem services
2.6. Swiss green space policy and planning
The benefits of green wall, as discussed earlier contribute to sustainability and resilience of
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on sustainable city development affect the implementation and growth of green walls. Some European cities have defined laws for GI development. Geneva, on the other hand was found to have no laws or policies which directly focus on GI application in the city. Hence, the literature search has been extended from only GI development to SD policies that affect the city green space development. This has helped to find out some important regulatory instruments which have significant potential to enhance the growth of GW in the city.
Switzerland is one amongst the many European countries which keeps sustainable development as a priority for its land-use strategies and spatial planning for cities (Bartschi et al. 2012; ARE and ETHZ 2008). Efficient infrastructure, economical land-use, and protection of biodiversity are the top most priorities for Swiss spatial planning. The Swiss administration is very sensitive about the effects climate change (Bartschi et al. 2012) on biodiversity because of its intensive land use for agricultural and modern infrastructure development (Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu et al.
2015). The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation1 was developed aiming to implement the measurement for sustainable development throughout the country (Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation 1999). The Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE)2 is responsible for the spatial planning and sustainable development along with the cantons, cities, and municipalities (Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE) n.d.;
Tappert, Klöti, and Drilling 2018).
Geneva, as discussed above is one of the political and economic center for the country which attracts more inhabitants every day (Tappert, Klöti, and Drilling 2018). This creates a major imbalance between the number of job opportunities available and the housing options (Tappert,
1 Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation: The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation was adopted in 18th April 1999. It aims to protect the liberty and right of people, promote SD, and is committed to preserve the natural resource (Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation 1999).
2 Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE): ARE is the federal government’s specialist authority responsible for spatial development, mobility, and sustainable development (The Federal Council n.d.).
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